DENVER — A hacker disabled the computer system used by Colorado’s public defenders – crippling their ability to represent their clients and leading to the postponement of an unknown number of criminal cases.
The breach left attorneys unable to get into their computer network, where they keep everything from their calendars to the documents provided by prosecutors, known as discovery.
The Colorado State Public Defender’s office has about 1,250 employees – 572 of them attorneys – and handles about 130,000 criminal cases annually.
James Karbach, a spokesman for the office, said in a statement that “some data within our computer system was encrypted by malware” and that the decision was made to disable its network.
In multiple courtrooms around the state, public defenders told judges that they needed their hearings postponed as a result of the attack.
It is not clear when the system may be restored.
Scott Robinson, a 9NEWS legal analyst, said the lack of computer access makes it impossible to represent a client in court.
“It would be remarkable if any of the public defenders who this breach has affected could practice law under these conditions,” Robinson said. “We are completely reliant on electronics to practice law in the 21st century.”
When Robinson began practicing law in the 1970s, everything was on paper. No more.
“For even the least technologically oriented lawyer, you’ve got to have email, you’ve got to have access to the e-filing system,” Robinson said. “If you don't have access to police reports, and the discovery that is provided electronically in criminal cases, you can't try the case. People like me that rely on paper calendars and paper files are a rarity.
“And we're about to become extinct.”
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